ROME (UCAN) -- Cardinal Jean Baptiste Phan Minh Man says he will ask Pope Benedict XVI to visit Vietnam in 2010, a jubilee year for the local Church, if Ha Noi and the Holy See establish diplomatic relations before then.

The cardinal spoke with UCA News in Rome when he visited recently to join a meeting the Emmanuel Community organized at which bishops from all continents discussed evangelization in today's world.

It would be "very good" if the pope could come to Vietnam, he said, adding that he would invite the Holy Father to visit in 2010 "for sure" if diplomatic relations are established by that time.

The Catholic Church in Vietnam plans to hold a Jubilee Year that will open in Ha Noi archdiocese on Nov. 24, 2009, and end in Hue archdiocese on Jan. 2, 2011. The celebration will mark two historic events for the local Church: the 350th anniversary of the establishment of the first two apostolic vicariates, and the establishment of the hierarchy 50 years ago.

Pope Alexander VII established the vicariates of Dang Ngoai (Tonkin) and Dang Trong (Cochin China) on September 9, 1659. Three hundred years later, Blessed Pope John XXIII established the Vietnamese Catholic Hierarchy on November 24, 1960.

The Jubilee Year could be an opportune moment for a papal visit, and since Pope Benedict has not yet been to Asia, an invitation to come to Vietnam is something he might well accept.

The idea of such a visit "is in our mind," but "all the Vietnamese bishops have not yet had a formal discussion about this matter," Cardinal Man told UCA News in Rome.

It is not a new idea, but the hope it might come to pass increased after Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met the pope during a historic visit to the Vatican on Jan. 25, 2007, and expressed openness to establishing diplomatic relations.

Not long afterward, a Holy See delegation visited Vietnam March 5-11, 2007. Members of the delegation headed by Monsignor Pietro Parolin, undersecretary for relations with states, celebrated Mass in several places for excited Catholics.

A press statement the Vatican issued after the delegation's return concluded by saying Vietnamese Catholics had expressed "the hope that the Pope himself could one day make a pastoral visit to the country."

Cardinal Man said another delegation from the Holy See had planned to come in May, but Vietnamese authorities said they would be busy and asked that the visit be postponed to June.

Some international media interpreted the postponement as revealing tensions between the two sides in the wake of demonstrations Catholics staged in Ha Noi last December and January demanding the return of onetime apostolic delegate's residence in Ha Noi.

Cardinal Man rejected this reading, however, and said the reason for the postponement was that Buddhists held "a big international congress in Vietnam May 13-17 for the birth of the Buddha (Vesak)." Vietnam has a population of 83 million people, with Buddhists numbering 23 million, or about 28 percent, and Catholics 6 million, or about 7 percent, the cardinal said.

The delegation, headed again by Monsignor Parolin, is now scheduled to make a working visit June 9-16, Church sources in Vietnam told UCA News there. They said they expect the delegation to visit the national Shrine of Our Lady of La Vang and to meet Bishop Pierre Nguyen Van Nhon of Da Lat, president of the Vietnam Bishops' Conference.

In Ha Noi, they said, the delegation would meet leaders of Ha Noi archdiocese and work with government officials toward settling episcopal nominations for some vacant dioceses. The sources expect the former apostolic delegate's residence and former Pius X Pontifical College in Da Lat to be on the agenda.

The Vatican has not disclosed the agenda for this 15th working visit to Vietnam since 1989. However, sources in Rome say they expect the delegation and their Vietnamese counterparts to discuss, among other things, a "road map," joint commission and other concrete steps toward the establishment of diplomatic relations, which both sides acknowledge as the final goal.

Substantial progress here could transform Cardinal Man's "idea" into a distinct possibility. Vietnam could become the first Asian country to welcome Pope Benedict.

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